What managers seek from their careers: Expanding the traditional model of career satisfaction

This dissertation explores the impact of gender identity on sources of career satisfaction and in particular the extent to which one\u27s feminine and masculine identities influence the value one places on socioemotional and status-based career satisfiers. It was shown that the stronger an individual\u27s feminine identity, the more he or she values socioemotional career satisfiers. In contrast, it was found that the stronger an individual\u27s masculine identity, the greater the importance placed on status-based career satisfiers. Furthermore, family identity was found to mediate the relationship between feminine identity and the importance placed on socioemotional career satisfiers. Career identity and upward comparisons were shown to mediate the relationship between masculine identity and the importance placed on status-based career satisfiers. These relationships explained men\u27s and women\u27s value of career satisfiers similarly thus demonstrating that gender identity is a strong predictor of socioemotional and status-based career satisfiers. Therefore, this study demonstrates that the traditional model of career satisfaction should be expanded to include socioemotional sources and that gender identity helps explain why managers differ in what they seek from their careers.